Search results for "Landscape"
showing 10 items of 1561 documents
Artificial grass in parks as a potential new threat for urban bird communities
2022
Summary Green areas are key habitats for urban avifauna. Urban parks stand out from other anthropic habitats especially in providing trophic resources for many bird species. Consequently, modifications of these green zones can imply major changes in urban biodiversity. Potential pernicious urban remodelling is taking place in parks of eastern Spain because natural grass is being replaced with artificial grass to save water and to avoid management. This study aimed to determine whether remodelled parks with artificial grass harbour lower avian diversity (alpha, beta and gamma diversity) than traditional parks with natural grass. We surveyed 21 parks with artificial grass and 24 parks with na…
Towards a local mass mortality of the Mediterranean orange coral Astroides calycularis (Pallas, 1766) in the Pelagie Islands Marine Protected Area (I…
2022
In late summer 2020, a widespread mortality event severely affected colonies of the Mediterranean endemic orange coral Astroides calycularis in the Pelagie Islands (Strait of Sicily, southern Mediterranean Sea). The degree of the mortality impact at seven study sites of the archipelago (five within the Pelagie Islands Marine Protected Area) was quantified by estimating the proportion of affected colonies in populations of A. calycularis. Five of the seven surveyed sites revealed a low degree of impact, but Punta Ruperta and Cala Creta (both on the island of Lampedusa) showed a medium impact with values of 32.3% and 30.5% of affected colonies respectively. The 2020 mortality event coincided …
Behavioral responses of Atlantic cod to sea temperature changes
2015
Understanding responses of marine species to temperature variability is essential to predict impacts of future climate change in the oceans. Most ectotherms are expected to adjust their behavior to avoid extreme temperatures and minimize acute changes in body temperature. However, measuring such behavioral plasticity in the wild is challenging. Combining 4 years of telemetry-derived behavioral data on juvenile and adult (30–80 cm) Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua), and in situ ocean temperature measurements, we found a significant effect of sea temperature on cod depth use and activity level in coastal Skagerrak. During summer, cod were found in deeper waters when sea surface temperature increase…
Forest Naturalness in Northern Europe: Perspectives on Processes, Structures and Species Diversity
2011
Saving the remaining natural forests in northern Europe has been one of the main goals to halt the ongoing decline of forest biodiversity. To facilitate the recognition, mapping and efficient conservation of natural forests, there is an urgent need for a general formulation, based on ecological patterns and processes, of the concept of âforest naturalnessâ. However, complexity, structural idiosyncracy and dynamical features of unmanaged forest ecosystems at various spatio-temporal scales pose major challenges for such a formulation. The definitions hitherto used for the concept of forest naturalness can be fruitfully grouped into three dimensions: 1) structure-based concepts of natural …
The Revision of the Crustacea Collection of the Museum of Zoology “P. Doderlein” under the Framework of the National Biodiversity Future Center
2023
The collection of Crustacea preserved in the Museum of Zoology “P. Doderlein” in Palermo (Italy) has been revised in the framework of the activities of the National Biodiversity Future Center. The main part of the collection is composed of Decapoda, while a smaller part includes Stomatopoda, Isopoda, Amphipoda, and Cirripedia. Overall the collection includes common species, some of which are now protected.
Evaluation of the “Bottleneck” Effect in an Isolated Population of Microtus hartingi (Rodentia, Arvicolinae) from the Eastern Rhodopes (Bulgaria) by …
2022
An integrative analysis of an isolated population of Harting’s vole (Microtus hartingi) from the Eastern Rhodope Mountains (Bulgaria) was carried out by morphological and morphometric methods, computed tomography, Cytb variation data, and experimental hybridization. Substantial changes in the development of the skull and teeth were found. Nevertheless, those voles can live to the senex stage. A phylogenetic reconstruction based on Cytb sequences showed that M. hartingi from the Eastern Rhodopes forms a separate clade, which is a sister clade to the voles from Northeastern Greece (also from the foothills of the Rhodopes). M. hartingi from the Rhodopes is mostly isolated reproductively …
The desert at Zait Bay, Egypt: a bird migration bottleneck of global importance
2009
The study area at Zait Bay, Egypt (c. 700 km2) is situated in the middle of the West Asian-East African migration flyway used by very large numbers of soaring migrants. At this site the corridor narrows into a bottleneck. There exist only very few bottlenecks of this magnitude in the world. Observations were performed at all hours between sunrise and sunset at 26 observation sites, situated 5 km apart. The northern part of the area under investigation (19 observation sites) was situated within the Gebel El Zeit IBA (criteria A1 and A4iv), while the southernmost part (8 observation sites) was outside. The overall evaluation has shown that 179,681 soaring birds including 122,454 storks and 36…
Fungi and Bacteria in Indoor Cultural Heritage Environments: Microbial-related Risks for Artworks and Human Health
2016
Cultural heritage constitutive materials can provide excellent substrates for microbial colonization, highly influenced by thermo-hygrometric parameters. In cultural heritage-related environments, a detrimental microbial load may be present both on manufacts surface and in the aerosol. In this study, bacterial and fungal colonisation has been investigated in three Sicilian confined environments (archive, cave and hypogea), each with peculiar structures and different thermo-hygrometric parameters. Particular attention has been paid to microorganisms able to induce artifacts biodeterioration and to release biological particles in the aerosol (spores, cellular debrides, toxins and allergens) p…
Quantifying the Indicator Power of an Indicator Species
2009
Biodiversity indicator species are needed for classifying biotopes and sites for conservation, and a number of methods have been developed for determining indicator species for this purpose. Nevertheless, in addition to site classification, there is sometimes a need to define an indicator species that indicates the occurrence of another species. For example, when a species of interest (target species) is difficult to detect or identify, a reliable indicator species can function as a tool that saves time and money. We derived a method that provides a quantitative measure of the indicator power (IP) of an indicator species for the target species or any species assemblage. We calculated the me…
Effects of Local Disturbance of Tropical Forests on Frugivores and Seed Removal of a Small-Seeded Afrotropical Tree
2008
Small-scale, local disturbance of tropical forests, for example from selective logging, is widespread, but its effects on biodiversity and ecosystem function have rarely been studied. In 3 East African tropical rainforests, we investigated the effect of different levels of local forest disturbance on the frugivore community and on tree visitation and fruit removal rates of the small-seeded tree Celtis durandii. We quantified birds and primates in little and heavily disturbed sites, distinguishing between forest specialists, forest generalists, and forest visitors. We quantified frugivorous tree visitors and seed removal rates of C. durandii trees in the same sites. Forest disturbance reduce…